The Chinese word "尼尔森" (Ní'ěrsēn) is a phonetic transliteration formed through a process called 音译 (yīnyì), where characters are selected solely for their sound to approximate the pronunciation of a foreign name—in this case, "Nielsen" or "Nilsson." The characters 尼 (ní), 尔 (ěr), and 森 (sēn) carry their own independent meanings (e.g., "Buddhist nun," "you," and "forest," respectively), but those meanings are disregarded here; their primary function is to phonetically mimic the syllables of the source name, following conventional patterns used to adapt Western names into Chinese.